Getting on*

Good morning! A little misunderstanding can turn a best friend into an enemy and a small amount of consideration can make a foe (enemy) into a friend for life. In the present times, when chaos (pronounced as ‘kay-aws’) seems to be ruling the world- is blood still thicker than water? Or has it lost its consistency (thickness)? Should we bury the hatchet with those who have wronged us and forgive and forget, or should we instead keep pricking at the wounds for them to start bleeding? Well! Should we mull (think about) over these unanswerable questions, or should we just get on with our work and let time prove the authenticity (dependability, accuracy) of age old idioms and proverbs.

What am I trying to say to you all? Nothing really, I’m just trying to bring in some oft used idioms in our conversation.

Blood is thicker than water means family is more important and the family bonds are stronger than any other relationship (people who are not related). Blood is thicker than water is actually a German proverb- ‘Blut ist dicker als Wasser’. In English it first appeared as “Weel, blude’s thicker than water; she’s welcome to the cheeses and the hams just the same”, in Sir Walter Scott’s (a Scottish poet and novelist) novel Guy Mannering.

It is believed (at least for some people) that many would go to any extent to aid their kith and kin (relatives), which is both good and bad. Bad, when it leads to ‘nepotism’, very recently you must have seen this term splashed in the papers, in connection with a well known international figure and her son’s godfather. ‘Nepotism’ means favoritism to one’s own family and relatives, which means to give favors like jobs to one’s own relations.

Okay, which is the next idiom that I have used? It is ‘bury the hatchet’, it means to make peace with the person or people you have had a tiff (quarrel, falling out) with. Hatchet, in fact, is a cleaver or an axe. In the 17th century, the chieftains of the tribes would in real bury their hatchets, to show that they had called off the war. That’s how this phrase came to be used.

The third idiom is ‘to forgive and forget’. It means to pardon someone who has wronged you.

Right! There’s a query from Rajwinder Kaur.

Which one of the sentence constructions is right?

Sugar and coffee are added to the milk.

Or

Sugar and coffee is added to the milk.

Rajwinder, when two subjects, express a single idea, a singular verb is used. Therefore, the correct usage is ‘Sugar and coffee is added to the milk.’

Do keep sending in your queries to me, I love answering your questions.